White Widow
by antebellum13
Summary: Somewhat follows the original Peter Parker canon in certain aspects, but otherwise goes its own way. Find out what happens to Shay Parker when her parents' bodies are found and they've left everything to her.
1. Chapter 1

_Bang!_ The first sound Shay Parker heard was the sound of her body hitting the floor of her small, second story bedroom. Groaning, she slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She had been dreaming only a minute before, but already she couldn't remember what it had been about. A moment later, there was a light knock on the door.

"Shay? Everything okay in there?" said Shay's Aunt Elle in a concerned voice. Shay saw the knob begin to turn.

"Just fell out of bed, Aunt Elle, everything's fine," she responded as she sat up. The door stayed closed. She touched the back of her head, wincing when she touched the small goose egg that was already forming there.

"Well all right. Breakfast will be ready soon, dear." Shay listened to her aunt shuffle back down the hall and heard the creak of the stairs a few seconds later. Sighing, she stood and walked over to the mirror.

As per her daily ritual, Shay scrutinized herself harshly in the mirror. Nose, too big. Hands, too pudgy. Body, too much excess fat. Eyes, still pretty, but unnoticeable. Hair, lustrous in its dark brown, almost black color, but otherwise flat and unyielding in its ways. Lips, above average, but lost amidst the fat of her cheeks. Face, still some mild, relentless acne. Something was off, though, but she couldn't figure out what… Rubbing her eyes, she figured it out. She'd forgotten to take her contacts out last night. Not that they made much difference to her face. No one had even noticed when she stopped wearing glasses. Thick, black, ugly glasses.

Shay sighed again. What she would give to be one of those pretty girls. One of those rail thin girls that could eat whatever they wanted without gaining an ounce. One of those girls who didn't have to deal with a daily beauty regime just to cover up their ugliness, who didn't have to stand in front of their closets for 20 minutes figuring out how best to hide their fat rolls.

Quickly, Shay slapped on her daily makeup, makeup she knew would be faded by the end of the day anyway, because she couldn't afford the more expensive kind and she felt bad asking her aunt and uncle to fund her insecurity. She crossed to the closet and flung it open, grabbing the closest black shirt she could find and flinging it over her head. She yanked on yesterday's slightly stretched jeans in the hopes that the extra room would make her appear smaller in them, as if she'd lost weight. Looking at herself in the mirror again, she wasn't satisfied. But she never was, so it would have to do.

Shay grabbed her backpack and headed out of her room, down the stairs, and to the quaint little kitchen. She plopped down at the table across from her Uncle Billy, just as Aunt Elle set a plate of steaming, crispy bacon down. Bacon, the bane of her existence. Shay told herself she didn't want any, that she needed to lose weight and resist temptation, but it didn't last very long. It never did. She had this internal fight every morning, and every morning she lost. She grabbed two pieces and quickly inhaled them, reaching for more only 10 seconds after she'd grabbed the first.

Shay knew she was a bit overweight. At only 5'4, she was a good 60 pounds overweight. Technically, according to her dreaded BMI, she was classified as 'obese,' but she didn't like to think of it that way. Sure she was big, but she didn't look obese. At least she hoped she didn't. She saw a fat girl in the mirror, a girl she knew could look better, but she wasn't totally lost to her fat. She wasn't buried in mounds of flesh, unable to see her feet when she looked down. She carried it well enough, but not so well that she looked of average weight. She still looked overweight, and she still ate too much and exercised too little. It was her own fault, really. Some people had medical issues, yes, but her problem was simply that food tasted too good and exercise felt too exhausting.

Shay sighed again as she finished her fifth piece. She grabbed a piece of toast with butter and swallowed a large gulp of orange juice before standing up and grabbing her bag.

"Sorry, got a late start," she said apologetically to her aunt and uncle. "Gonna miss the bus if I don't hurry. Love you!" She pecked them both briefly on the cheek and ran out the door. Just as the bus passed her house. The driver hadn't even bothered to stop because she wasn't waiting where she was supposed to be waiting. Technically, he was supposed to stop, honk once, wait a minute, and _then_ leave. But no one except her aunt and uncle had ever cared about Shay, and no one ever would. Even her own parents had abandoned her when she was only a toddler. Now it was 15 years later and no one had seen them since that stormy night so long ago.

Shay shook the faded memories away and concentrated on the quickly vanishing bus. Well, crap. She'd either have to walk today or catch a cab. She dug into her pockets to see if she had anything extra, but she only had enough for lunch. Weighing the pros and cons of getting a cab and not eating versus walking twelve blocks, being late, and getting to eat lunch, she quickly decided walking was her best option. In the past she might have asked Uncle Billy to drive her, but for some reason, she just wanted to be alone today. So she walked to school.

20 minutes later, Shay dropped into her seat in her first period class. Mr. Bogardus scribbled a quick note in his grade book but otherwise ignored her. So Shay wandered through her classes in a slight haze, like she usually did. Due largely to the fact that she had no friends and no life to speak of, she excelled in all of her classes and found most of them intolerably boring. She was also in the unique situation of being something of a loser without actually ever being bullied too much. No, people usually just ignored her altogether, like she was invisible.

She was smart, but she avoided answering anything in class unless called on. She never volunteered for anything. She never tried to make friends. Her life was a solitary one, simple as that. So she had a lot of free time on her hands. Time to observe, time to invest in hobbies… She liked to draw, to write, to read. She wasn't much of an artist, nothing that could ever turn over a profit, but she dabbled somewhat in sketching, and art was one of her favorite classes. She loved to lose herself in fantasy novels, imagine herself in a different world, a world where she was special, where people knew who she was and wanted to be her friend. Most likely a by-product of her other two hobbies, she also liked to write. She didn't have the patience to ever actually finish one of the dozens of stories she'd started, but she didn't mind. Part of the fun was just writing wonderful intros and leaving the rest to her imagination. She could lay for hours on her bed just dreaming up whole worlds in which _she_ was the main character. _She_ was the beautiful lead, the hero who saved the day. But those kinds of things would never happen to her. She'd go to Columbus State Community College in the Fall and she'd get an English degree, then hopefully find some secretarial job she could do until she was old enough to retire.

At lunch that day, something changed. Shay sat alone, as per usual, eating her crappy school lunch, as per usual. What she didn't expect was for someone to sit down across from her. No one ever sat with her, or even near her, really. She was invisible, but at the same time, it was like she had a force field around her, one that kept people at least 10 feet away. She looked up in surprise, and was even more surprised to see a somewhat handsome face looking back at her.

She'd never seen the boy before. He looked to be her age – that is to say, he didn't have the young, lost look of a freshman or sophomore, so took him to be at least of Junior status. He had dark hair, almost the same color as her own brown-black hair, but there were highlights of mahogany that were really only noticeable when the fluorescent lighting hit them right. He had deep, piercing grey eyes umbrella'd by heavy, thoughtful brows. He was no model by any standards, but he was somehow compelling to look at. Shay blushed when she realized she was staring and she quickly looked back down.

"I'm Alex," he said in a surprisingly rich, baritone voice. She looked up again and stared. He raised an eyebrow in a puzzled manner, then quipped, "And you are?"

Shay started. "Oh! I'm sorry. Shay. Shay Parker."

"Shay," he said thoughtfully. "That's a nice name. I just moved here. So what's it like?" Shay stared at him in bewilderment for a moment. She wasn't really used to speaking to anyone. She'd never really realized how shy she was. "You know. Like…here? In Columbus? Capital of Ohio? I mean you no offense, but it's rather unimpressive so far. Back in New York everything was…well, louder, certainly. But I don't know. Everything had a sense of importance there. Every movement was urgent and impatient, but I liked it. It was like…life energy, you know? It seems so lethargic here."

Shay found herself nodding along. It was true, after all. Ohio wasn't exactly known for anything more exciting than its presidents and its astronauts. Other than that, it was just a blip on the continental map. It had hot summers and frigid winters. Construction was an ever-occurring, year-round event, almost a season in itself, and nothing ever seemed to get finished. Everything was always grey and bland. She could understand his feelings toward the state, especially coming from such a high-energy state himself.

"You pretty much summed it up," Shay said. Alex flashed a grin at her then looked down at his food and started eating. Shay looked back to hers, and they sat in silence, Shay unaware of Alex's eyes continuously wandering back to her. He couldn't figure out why he'd chosen to sit with this lonely girl his first day there. Perhaps she just seemed approachable, but he realized that wasn't entirely true. She was shy, certainly, but people just didn't seem to see her. Maybe it was pity, but he didn't think so. Maybe he just knew how she felt. In any case, both of them felt something of an unspoken friendship beginning to bud.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully for Shay. She had no reason to believe anything was going to change. But when she got home to find her aunt and uncle in the living room on the couch, clutching each other and staring up at a man in a black suit who was speaking in somber tones, she couldn't explain the feeling inside her that knew exactly why that man was here. Somehow, deep down inside, she knew. It was less of a surprise when her aunt looked up at her, face streaked with tears, and jumped up, wrapping her in a tight embrace.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," she sobbed into Shay's shoulder. "They say they've uncovered your parents' bodies in South America. They've brought a will." Shay's inner light dimmed to the point that it almost went out. She could hear a rushing sound in her ears and her vision blackened briefly. There were no tears, no reassurances. Instead, she simply sat, numb, next to her aunt on the couch. The man in black looked down at her.

"Shay Parker?" he asked. Shay nodded her head once, sharp and quick. "I have some things here your parents left to you." He handed her a burlap side bag, the kind you see archeologists wear. "I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am." The man nodded at Aunt Elle and Uncle Billy, then excused himself.

"Why?" Shay asked suddenly, giving the man pause at the door. He hesitated for a moment before giving his head a small shake.

"We don't know. But we suspect foul play. If we find out anything… You'll be the first to know." With that, he walked out the door, the screen slamming behind him. Shay looked down at the bag, her mind racing. Standing abruptly, she walked toward the staircase.

"Shay, dinner is soon," her aunt said in a choked voice. "You could stay here and we'll talk—"

Shay cut her off. "I'm not hungry. I just need to sleep." She ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Shay shoved her school bag onto the floor and tossed her parents' bag in its place. She hopped onto the bed and sat cross-legged before it. Burying her face in her hands for a moment, she had the sudden urge to cry, but couldn't make the tears come. It had been some 15 years now, right? She could barely remember them. Just hazy memories. After all, she'd only been three years old when they'd dumped her with her aunt and uncle.

Foul play. Shay heard the man say those words a thousand times in her head. Foul play in South America? Just _what_ had they been up to? Had they forgotten her? Did they even care? But they couldn't have just forgotten her. They'd left everything they had to her. Or at least everything that could be found. At this thought, Shay's attention shifted back to the bag before her. Hesitantly, she reached out and undid the buckle.

In one swift "just rip the band-aid off" motion, Shay dumped the contents of the bag out onto her bed. Only a few items fell out. She looked inside the bag to be sure she had everything, and then surveyed the contents. Just an envelope, a vial of what appeared to be ink, a blank piece of some sort of thick paper, a couple rubber bands, and an empty pill bottle written in a language of symbols that looked vaguely like Russian or something similar.

Shay put the pill bottle, the rubber bands, the ink, and the paper aside. They were useless to her without some clue as to what they were. She instead focused her attention on the envelope. Her name was type written on it, and that was it. The envelope was unsealed as well. She flipped the flap open and pulled out a stapled document of several sheets.

Glancing quickly at the header, she could see that it was a will. There was a bunch of legalese she didn't understand, but it was clear that there was only one article, one request. "We [Jeremiah Evan Parker and Samantha Mary Parker (maiden name Laurel)] leave our only heir [Shay Maria Parker, b. August 29, 1994] all our worldly possessions. This includes any material things and real-estate." The last page of the document was signed by both of her parents, a guarantor, and a witness. Shay ran her fingers over her parents' signatures, but the document was a copy, not the original. They might not have ever even touched the paper.

Sighing, Shay shoved the will and the envelope aside, letting it join the pile of what she now considered junk. Just a dead end. In a brief fit of anger, Shay grabbed the empty bag and threw it at her wall. When she heard a soft clink, she realized the bag wasn't actually completely empty. Jumping off the bed, she grabbed the bag and shook it, listening for the sound again. There. Probably a side pocket or a pocket inside she hadn't noticed.

But after a thorough search of the bag, she had only uncovered one extra pocket, and there was nothing in it. So maybe she was just hearing things, grasping for an explanation that just wasn't there. Squeezing the bag in frustration, she gasped when she felt something hard meet her fingers. Something not inside the bag, but _inside_ the bag, between the very fabric of the stitched canvas.

Not caring about destroying the bag, Shay grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk and cut the stitching of the bag near the opening, making a hole as wide as her hand. She reached in and felt around, hoping to find something. But her fingers felt only more canvas, nothing there. Frustrated, Shay started cutting blindly, positive she was going crazy. She stopped when a louder clink sounded on the floor, followed by the sound of something glass rolling away under the bed.

Shay threw the mangled bag to the side and dropped down on the floor, reaching her hand under the bed and searching frantically from side to side. She stopped when her fingers found something small, smooth, and cold. She wrapped her fingers around it, closed her eyes, and pulled it out. She sat cross-legged on the floor for a moment before opening her eyes and looking at the object.

It was another vial, similar to the one the ink had been in, but empty. On the verge of tears, Shay reared her hand back and was about the throw the vial at the wall when she noticed that it wasn't empty; there was something very small in the bottle. Holding the bottle close to her face, she peered in at whatever it was. Upon seeing it, she jerked her head back in disgust before she realized it was dead. A small, mummified-looking spider. Whether it was only bleached white or if it was naturally white, Shay didn't know. It looked like an ordinary spider, though, the common kind you see around the house from time to time, only white and dead.

Frowning, Shay dropped her hand, letting the vial rest in her open palm on her lap. She sat back, resting her head on the bed behind her. Before she really had time to start thinking about anything, a light tap on her door sounded and her aunt opened it a crack. Seeing Shay on the floor, she opened the door all the way and walked in.

Aunt Elle was 12 years older than her sister, Shay's mother. Her face had many lines, from many years of happiness and a few of grief and stress. Her hair was starting to grey, but it looked fitting on her aunt, creating the dark, faded sepia look of old photographs. Her eyes were bright and wise, her frame frail-looking, but surprisingly strong. She sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to her. Shay complied, sinking into the mattress.

Half glancing at the destroyed bag, Elle pointed at the vial in Shay's hand and said, "What's that you have there?" Shay handed the vial to her aunt and waited while she held it up to her face in the same manner Shay had done only moments before. She watched as her aunt's eyebrows rose and a question formed in Shay's mouth. But before she could ask anything, her aunt spoke.

"I remember this," she said. "Yes, your mother spoke of it often. It was a gift to her from your father. He found it on one of his digs. It was in an ancient jar, something I'm sure has been submitted as an artifact in some museum or other. But he secretly kept the spider. Don't ask me why, I'm sure it was to impress your mother. And it must have, because they started dating soon after. At least that's the story according to her. She said she's never seen anything like it. She can't identify the species at all. It has characteristics of several different species, but doesn't quite fit in with any of them. She kept it with her always, hoping to someday find out what it was. I'm sure it was one of her most valued possessions. Take good care of it, Shay."

Shay took the vial back from her aunt. Elle stood and walked to the door. "We'll leave dinner in the fridge if you get hungry later on, dear. Have a good night." With that, her aunt closed the door behind her and left. Sighing again, Shay looked at the tiny spider one more time before placing the vial on the shelf above her computer. She flopped back onto the bed and was asleep within seconds.


End file.
